I have no patience for incompetence!

[Gilligan]

Got to the office late this morning and no internet on a computer that I JUST fixed from having a rootkit (man it was f'd up).  I'm like, great... I guess it's still infected.

Then I realize that MY computer doesn't have internet.

Hop in the router and it won't ping out.  I go next door (my fiber still comes into the previous unit I was in) and reset everything.  Come back and still nothing.

I call them up (on my cell because the office phone is VOIP and obviously down as well!).

Them:  Do you have a router installed

Me: Yes (I know where this is going)

Them: Unplug it and hook directly to the equipment

Me: No

Them: I'm sorry did you say no?  Can you not do that?

Me: That's right... I can't really do it and I'm not gonna do it.  I'm not gonna put any computers on a non-firewalled connection.  I can replace the router if you want, I have some brand new in a box right here.

Them:  Well, sir we need you to connect a computer directly to the equipment.

Me:  A router is a computer, it has a network card, a MAC address everything... it's essentially a tiny linux computer.  I could hook up a broken laptop but that wouldn't prove anything OR I could hook up a working router and that eliminates the "bad router" issue that you suspect it is.

Them:  I'm sorry sir, but that won't work.  I will send out a tech but if it is your equipment then you will be charged 49.99 for the service call.

Me: no I won't.

Them: Excuse me?

Me:  No,  I won't!  I'm really sick of the way corporate customers are treated by you guys... I see it with my customers and I see it right here.  It takes longer to get hooked up and then where most ISP's support you on a router because they know that in the corporate world no one is putting their computers on an unsecure network... but not you guys.  This is ridiculous!

<silence>

Me:  Do me a favor... Make sure they didn't turn off my connection... I called yesterday afternoon and told them I need my equipment moved.. .make sure they didn't do something stupid like assume I'm not using it anymore and turned me off.

Them: Oh, yes... it appears that is what happened.

Me: Ok, well turn me back on... I'm still using it.  As I explained to them yesterday, I need the equipment moved 40'... I still have it hooked up... I also explained all these details when I first contacted you guys about the move over a month ago... I turned in the paper work over 2 weeks ago and I just happened to have your guy on the phone about an email issue last night and figured I'd check the status.  No reason for him to turn me off.

Them: Let me check on that

<hold for 5 mins>

Them: Ok, you ARE scheduled to be reconnected but I can't tell when.

Me:  No, Turn it back on NOW.  There is nothing disconnected, I had this conversation with your guy at 6pm, they didn't do anything at the location yet.  So flip whatever switch you have to flip and get it turned back on... just undo whatever they did this morning!

Them: I'll need to transfer you to customer service

Me: Oh crap

<hold for 2 mins>

Them: Ok they say you are now back online.

Me:  Yes, it looks like everything is fine.  Do you now understand why I have no patience for your incompetence?!  Why would you not check on this sort of thing.  Make sure the customer has paid the bill, make sure they are not turned off for some stupid reason.  All of this info is at your finger tips and yet you sit around trying to put the blame on me for 10 mins!

Them:  I'm sorry that you had to go through that sir, you are correct I should have looked at that.

Me: Ok.  Thank you

Them: Thank you and have a good day.


GEEZ!!  For a while I was feeling sorry for her, thinking I was maybe taking out some of some other frustration on the girl.  But no, it seemed well placed in the end!  I knew it was something dumb they had done.

I have one client that often forgets to pay their bill (large corporate thing and the location doesn't pay the bill so they never know what end is up)... I have learned to immediately ask the ISP if their bill is paid because I spent WAY too much time the first few times it happened going to the site and unplugging and plugging in equipment.  Moving things around to no avail to have them go... oh wait, I see the problem!

I know these people are just following a script (and for sure this person was)... but F*CK... If it seems like the guy on the phone knows WAY more than you do... maybe it's time to escalate that call to the next tier of support.  For f*ck sake, the account is under my computer company's name... that should clue them in right there that I probably know more than they do about the problem!  I wish I could bill the ISP's for all the time they have made me waste "proving" the problem is on THEIR end.  That would be one fat check!

[blue moon]

this reminds me of an IT guy we used to have working for us at my old biz. He called the ISP and complained about some files not coming over from the internet (or something similar). ISP (we had a T1 so it was a big backbone co), said no, if it is just one location it is not their problem and we should contact the ppl hosting it. He told them they had a router and some gear few states over ( and gave them the exact address and exact piece of gear) that had a bad module  and was dropping packets and that they should get their crap together and go fix it. They put him on hold for 10 min, came back and apologized!

for the most part, incompetence does not bother me. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, what burns me up though is ignorance. there has to be something wrong with me as it bugs me waaay more than it should!

pierre

[Gilligan]

Yeah, I had a similar situation as the one that I have here... router/modem was on other side of the room and I was using an AP to broadcast across the room to a desktop (the ISP installed the modem behind their TV so I'm not about to fight that).

They kept blaming the setup and I kept telling them that it wasn't.  Finally I got some strange internal IP address and told them and that solidified it for them that it was my equipment.  I kept telling them that nothing I had was giving out that address range.  Finally I had the genius idea to guess at the gateway of that network range and punch that into the system.  Boom, I get all the internal information about their modem.  I start rattling off their internal model numbers and their signal levels and all the numbers that only they are supposed to get to.  They quickly put me on hold for about 5 mins and came back "Umm, we found the problem, it should be working now".  Jacka$$es!!

[Shawn (EIP)]

I wonder what the suicide rate is for phone customer service operators.... I bet it's up there!

[Gilligan]

Nah, they just quit.  That's part of the problem, lack of pay = high turn over rate and an amazing ability to not give a sh*t.

[ScreenFoo]

Heh heh... It could be worse--a lot of the networks like that back in the day didn't even use 'switched' networks--you could access anyone's local network on the branch.   

The call reminds me of ATT service like ten years ago--I called them so many times on downtime, I had THEIR script down.   

Yes, I've done a cold reboot on the router, yes, I've released and renewed my IP lease, yes, I can ping any IP address that's up and get a reply--your DNS server is down again, when will it be up, and would you please credit my account for YOUR downtime?  It floored them.   Got over a month for free though.

No need to mention to them I cached most all of the DNS entries I ever used on my Linux firewall/router--it would have only confused them even more.   

[Sbrem]

this reminds me of an IT guy we used to have working for us at my old biz. He called the ISP and complained about some files not coming over from the internet (or something similar). ISP (we had a T1 so it was a big backbone co), said no, if it is just one location it is not their problem and we should contact the ppl hosting it. He told them they had a router and some gear few states over ( and gave them the exact address and exact piece of gear) that had a bad module  and was dropping packets and that they should get their crap together and go fix it. They put him on hold for 10 min, came back and apologized!

for the most part, incompetence does not bother me. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, what burns me up though is ignorance. there has to be something wrong with me as it bugs me waaay more than it should!

pierre

I can forgive ignorance, because they can learn. Incompetence can also be overcome. But when the go hand in hand with arrogance, that sets me off pretty much the same, a bit too much.

Steve

[sweetts]

Nah, they just quit.  That's part of the problem, lack of pay = high turn over rate and an amazing ability to not give a sh*t.

The pay in one big Telecom for that work is $28.00 to $34.50 an hour. The issue is not turn over its the opposite, you get people with 35 years of service who had a job punching down cable pairs for 30 years, that job goes away the union keeps them working and because they have been in the company Forever they get the job with zero knowledge and they have no desire to learn it (the amazing ability to not care). Also I am 100% sure they receive more calls from people that request help with email and excel more than they talk to folks like you who have a clue about networking. Remember every idiot you come in contact with probably has a computer and who do you think they call for help..... 

Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

[blue moon]

this reminds me of an IT guy we used to have working for us at my old biz. He called the ISP and complained about some files not coming over from the internet (or something similar). ISP (we had a T1 so it was a big backbone co), said no, if it is just one location it is not their problem and we should contact the ppl hosting it. He told them they had a router and some gear few states over ( and gave them the exact address and exact piece of gear) that had a bad module  and was dropping packets and that they should get their crap together and go fix it. They put him on hold for 10 min, came back and apologized!

for the most part, incompetence does not bother me. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, what burns me up though is ignorance. there has to be something wrong with me as it bugs me waaay more than it should!

pierre

I can forgive ignorance, because they can learn. Incompetence can also be overcome. But when the go hand in hand with arrogance, that sets me off pretty much the same, a bit too much.

Steve

You are right Steve, I should have been more specific. It's the WILLFUL IGNORANCE that bugs me!

pierre

[Gilligan]

Nah, they just quit.  That's part of the problem, lack of pay = high turn over rate and an amazing ability to not give a sh*t.

The pay in one big Telecom for that work is $28.00 to $34.50 an hour. The issue is not turn over its the opposite, you get people with 35 years of service who had a job punching down cable pairs for 30 years, that job goes away the union keeps them working and because they have been in the company Forever they get the job with zero knowledge and they have no desire to learn it (the amazing ability to not care). Also I am 100% sure they receive more calls from people that request help with email and excel more than they talk to folks like you who have a clue about networking. Remember every idiot you come in contact with probably has a computer and who do you think they call for help..... 

Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

Very true.

I was once going toe to toe with a lady about one of these failure to admit it was on their side issues and I explained to her my background and she was like "Sir, I've been doing this for 15 years"... now mind you this was like almost 10 years ago.  I was like "Really?!  your job hasn't even been around that long lady!"

[Gilligan]

So a follow up.

The contracted company comes in yesterday and runs me all new fiber and sets up new equipment in the new space.  He hooks up and tests it out and it works, I hook up and run my speed test and I'm getting as good or better than I did before, I'm pleased.  Time to make the move over.  I go next door and unplug the router from the old equipment and bring it over to my new equipment and hook it up and I get nada.  No IP address. grrr!

So I call them up and tell them what went down and even mention that the G4 guys had mentioned that they have issues sometimes with the system not letting go of their MAC address on their laptops and they can't pull an IP at the next customer's house because of that.  She says she doesn't see that.  After about 20 mins on the phone she says she will call me back and an engineer will have to fix it.

An hour passes and I'm done waiting.  I call up and I'm number 3 in line (which means it's a 30 min wait.)  If I press 9 I can leave a message and not lose my place.  I do so, but I don't really believe that (sometimes those systems work and work well, this didn't feel like it would).  So about 10 mins later I call from another phone, put it on speaker phone and throw it down on the counter next to me (I was number 2 in line).  15 mins pass and someone answers.  I explain what is going down and I tell him I'm ready to go home and eat my dinner (It's after 8pm now), I tell him about the G4 guy's story and he says "so you think it's still in the old VLAN?"  YES!  One second... yep.. that's the problem... give me 5 mins and I'll call you back.

Not 5 mins later I see the pings start to come in and he calls me up... TADA!  That was the problem the entire time, I F'ing GAVE the girl the problem and they STILL couldn't solve it!!

BTW, I still haven't gotten that call back from pressing 9.